(Harvey Rice/Houston Chronicle)
PORT BOLIVAR – Roy Mooney was surprised to learn early last year that the federal government was deducting $180 each month from his $1,200 Social Security check.

“I had no idea they could do that, just haul off and do it,” the 79-year-old said.

He also was surprised to learn that federal assistance intended to help him rebuild a home destroyed by Hurricane Ike instead made it impossible for him to qualify for a new dwelling under a $100 million federal program administered by Galveston County. Advocates for storm victims say Mooney’s plight is an example of how regulations sometimes are blind to the plight of those in need.

The 2008 hurricane swept away the Mooneys’ Port Bolivar house, leaving only piers jutting into the air. “When we left, we had to leave in a hurry,” Roy Mooney said. “All we had was the clothes on our back.”(Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle)